


Got a Whole Lot of Dreaming to Do

by Missy



Category: Laverne & Shirley (TV)
Genre: F/M, Marriage Proposal, New York, New York City, Romance, Sequel, post-move
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: A sequel to my "Shake it Up."Laverne, Lenny and Squiggy now live in a New York City loft together, working in the same diner while the boys pursue the Squigtones' success and Laverne works off-off-Broadway as a dancer.The next step is obvious to everyone but Laverne.
Relationships: Laverne DeFazio/Lenny Kosnowski
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	Got a Whole Lot of Dreaming to Do

**Author's Note:**

> Read Shake It Up [Here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28517244)

Laverne smiled at Lenny as he emerged from the phone booth, shivering as he tugged his winter jacket lower on his abdomen. “Squig says he’ll be done with Veronica by 11,” he said.

“How generous of him,” she retorted. To be fair to Squiggy, she didn’t have that much to complain about. She and Lenny tended to get ample warning whenever Squiggy brought a girl back to the apartment (which only happened once a month, though he told everyone at the diner where they worked day jobs that he had a ‘girl in every bureau’), and they demanded he hold his overnights at the girls’ place if he wanted to have them.

“Want to walk down to Junior’s?” That was their usual lunch and dinner spot when no one wanted to cook or they didn’t want to struggle with the hot plate – they had eaten there hundreds of times, and the staff there knew their faces and kept a tab for them.

“Okay,” Lenny said. And – as they had habitually begun to do – they walked two abreast with the flow of the foot traffic, Lenny’s arm around her shoulders and his hand tucked protectively into the front right pocket of Laverne’s jeans.

The two of them had managed to embrace their native roots and become rather passionate New Yorkers. Every other Sunday – between Laverne’s matinees and shifts at the diner – they went to Brooklyn on the subway and visited Laverne’s grandmother, where they (and sometimes Squiggy) were spoiled and stuffed full of food. They went to mass together in a big cathedral, and attended Yankees games when they had enough money (though nothing could make Lenny stop rooting for the Mets, not even living in prime Yankees territory) and free concerts in bars and clubs and parks when they did not. 

Lenny held the door open for her, and they sat together before the foggy windows, watching the endless parade of humanity that New York afforded them. Laverne ordered her usual – thick turkey club, pickle spear on the side, potato chips, thick chocolate malted, glass of Pepsi. She’d probably have a slice of apple crumb pie to finish it all off. Lenny went for chicken salad and fries with a vanilla malted. 

“So how’d rehearsals go?” Lenny asked.

“Great!” Laverne said. “With any luck, I’m gonna get a speaking part next play.” 

“Atta girl,” he said, punching her shoulder. Which was immediately followed up by a kiss to the lips. Laverne patted his shoulder.

“You got any songs we can play for my grandma yet?” Grandma appreciated that Laverne’s boyfriend was a musician, but she couldn’t let the Squigtones play songs like “Creature without a Head” and their latest, “Luscious Laverne,” for her.

“Not yet,” Lenny said. “But we’ll keep working, I promise!”

Laverne squeezed his fingertips, sighing happily. Their food came and they devoted their meals with aplomb. She was the right kind of peacefully weary after spending half the day rehearsing for the show and the rest waiting tables. When she called Shirley for their daily gab session (and it was finally Shirley and Carmine’s turn to pay), she’d spill everything, and hear about how Carmine’s auditions were going in Los Angeles, and all about Shirley’s job wrapping gifts at a department store nearby. And update on her father would come from Edna later in the week, since she wasn’t really speaking to him after running off to New York with her boyfriend and his sometimes-jealous best friend.

Maybe she could charm the boys into picking up their little hovel. Nah, she was being mean about the place – it really was nice, and her cousin Anthony had helped them get a discount on the rent. They had a phone line, a fridge, a bedroom, a half-bath and a futon, and they were saving together for a new stove.

Laverne felt Lenny’s eyes on her as she shoved a chip into her mouth. “What?” she asked. “I got grease on my face?”

“Nah,” Lenny said. “You’re just beautiful, that’s all.”

She laughed. “I’m in a sweatshirt and I’m all gross, Len.”

“So am I,” he said. She had half a sandwich down and was working on her shake when he suddenly spoke again.

“Marry me,” he said. It was so sudden that she actually choked on her milkshake.

“Len!” 

“It don’t got to be now,” he said. “I don’t even have enough for a ring. But you moved all the way to New York to follow your dreams and we’re dreaming together, so why not share one big dream forever?”

“That’s a lot of dreaming for one sentence,” she told him.

He slid his greasy fingers through her grip. “Yes, Laverne?”

She squeezed his hand back. “Yes, Len.” 

The world continued to spin, but for the two of them, in that silent diner, the world was beautiful and brand-new.


End file.
